


heavy is the head

by michpat6



Series: aftermath [22]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: F/M, because that's my dorephan philosophy this man is whoever i need him to be to fit the angst, but oh well we needed to move on, can a character be out of character if there's no character to begin with, honestly not even sure if this one makes sense because it just escalates out of nowhere lmaooooooo, honorary mipha mention so she's a tagged character, if its gonna be bad might as well have fun with it right?, not everything's gonna work out in zelda's favor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 07:55:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29589645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/michpat6/pseuds/michpat6
Summary: Predictably, King Dorephan is not pleased that Sidon wants to be Ruta’s next pilot.
Relationships: Link & Prince Sidon, Link & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Zelda & Prince Sidon
Series: aftermath [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2033743
Comments: 16
Kudos: 60





	heavy is the head

“You want to _what_?”

Predictably, King Dorephan is _not_ pleased that Sidon wants to be Ruta’s next pilot. 

“It is my birthright, Father,” Sidon says, standing on the platform before his father’s throne. Link and Zelda are standing behind him. “Mipha set the precedent-“

“Mipha died,” Dorephan cuts him off. “Mipha died because I made the mistake of trusting _her_.“

The Zora King turns his glare on Zelda.

“Is this idea yours, Princess Zelda? Have you infected my son, too?”

It seems, when it comes to his children, Dorephan has no qualms about insulting the woman he believes to be Hylia.

The Master Sword hums on Link’s back. _Dorephan of the Zora is much like your father, Master._

Link holds his breath as Zelda responds, “No, Your Majesty. I didn’t know Prince Sidon was thinking this until-”

_I had a father?_ he thinks.

_Yes, Master._

He never even thought that he had family Before.

_I could show you him, if you’d like._

Sidon and Dorephan are starting to yell at each other, Muzu butting in every so often, and Zelda flinches every time the king raises his voice-

_No,_ he thinks, exhaling. _Later._

Link brushes his fingers against hers. She grabs them, squeezing.

“It reminds me of my father and I,” she whispers. “With the Guardian research.”

(Link remembers that moment on the bridge between her room and her study. He remembers Rhoam’s callous dismissal of Zelda’s tries to unlock her power, he remembers her trying to make him understand, he remembers him banning her from the one thing that kept her mind off of her soul-crushing destiny.)

“It’s funny,” she’s not laughing. The dwindling rays of the setting sun makes her hair look luminescent. “I get blamed either way.”

(Link remembers white-hot fury boiling his blood.)

“This is not your fault,” he whispers back. “Neither was that.”

“My research is why we depended on the Divine Beasts and the Guardians. If we didn’t, if I had stopped like my father had told me to, they wouldn’t have turned on us-”

“Your research is also why I’m alive.”

She looks at him.

“Sidon is brave,” Link tells her. He doesn’t realize he’s stopped whispering. “He is brave, and he is capable, and he wants to pilot Ruta because Mipha was those things, too. She laid down her life trying to save the world, and he’s willing to lay down his to protect it. If there were no pilot to follow in her footsteps after her work was done, then her sacrifice would have meant nothing. He’s not doing this because of you, Zelda, he’s doing this because of her. Because of his people. Because of Hyrule. If we think the Calamity is gone for good and leave no one trained to fight it on the off chance that we’re right, we might as well go resurrect Ganon ourselves and let him off his leash.”

(A breeze-one he doesn’t feel?-lifts the ends of her hair off of her shoulders. The stars are beginning to light up the sky.)

The throne room is silent. Link turns his head and sees Sidon, Muzu, and Dorephan all staring at him. Sidon is grinning.

“Exactly, Father,” he glances back at the king. “What Link just said.”

“She sent you to your death, too, Link,” Dorephan says. “She sentenced over half of her kingdom, her own father and subjects _included_ , to a painful end. How could you possibly advocate for her, _blindly_ follow her, even, when everything she’s done ends in suffering?”

Link swallows the venom that wants to spill from his lips, taking a breath before answering, “Because-”

Golden light catches his eye. The Zora guards draw their spears and form a wall in front of Dorephan, Sidon, and Muzu, who gasps, “ _Your Majesty_ -”

Zelda’s entire body is glowing, the Triforce blazing on the back of her right hand. Rays of yellow light peek out from her clothes.

“Because he is the Hero,” she says, fists clenched and shaking at her sides. “And I am the Goddess Incarnate.”

He thought her power was fading?

_The power of my creator never fades, Master,_ The Master Sword breathes, reverent. _She is eternal._

(Well, right now she’s eternal and pissed off.)

“You can attack me all you’d like, Your Majesty,” Zelda continues. “It’s not the first time I’ve garnered the doubt of a king, but according to you my father is dead because of me. Everyone is, apparently, when the truth of the matter is all I did was try my best to save them. I think about Mipha’s death, about _everyone’s_ deaths, every night while I try to fall asleep, trying to figure out what I could have done to change the outcome. The ghosts of thousands haunt my dreams, not to mention the phantom of the beast I held back for a century so you could sit there and act like there was something _you_ could have done to save them all.”

( _Really_ pissed off. Putting Dorephan in his place like this? While he enjoys seeing it, it’s definitely not a ‘Zelda’ move.)

But…is this even Zelda talking? If Link’s past lives can take _him_ over…

_This is not a Zelda of the past, Master,_ The Master Sword reassures.

Link is decidedly _not_ reassured. He’s never seen her get so angry so fast. And her power flaring up like this after a month of nothing?

“Princess Zelda,” Dorephan’s voice trembles. “It would be wise of you to watch your tone with me. If you want my support in your ascension to the throne-”

“I found the solution to your problem, King Dorephan, and it is up to you whether or not it gets fixed. By the terms you gave me _yesterday_ , I already have your support.”

“Father, _please_ ,” Sidon begs. “She’s right and she means us no harm! Call off the guards, let me pilot Ruta, and we can just forget this disagreement ever-”

“ _You will not end up like your sister_!” The Zora King roars, spit flying from his mouth. “ _I will not allow this monster to kill you too_!”

Sidon turns and faces them, despair clear in his expression as he meets Link’s eyes.

(This is so much more than a disagreement.)

Zelda stares at Dorephan, letting his harsh words hang in the air. Only when the sliver of remorse enters his eyes does she finally say, “Link, get our things from Mipha’s room, please.”

“Princess Zelda,” Mipha’s father repeats, softer.

(They were close, Mipha and Zelda. From what Link can remember, Dorephan was always fond of her.)

“Link,” Zelda looks at him. Her power has yet to fade, the Triforce on her knuckles so bright he has to squint if he stares directly at it. “Please.”

Link takes a step-

“You have to understand,” Dorephan continues. “My people fear you, but my son calls you a friend. While I don’t know what to think, what I do know is what happened to Mipha happened under your command, and to hear that you want to command Sidon-”

“I never said that,” Zelda breathes. “I never said I wanted to command anyone.”

“Then why do you want your throne?”

She swallows.

(What a difference a hundred years makes.)

“You can attack me all you’d like, Your Majesty,” she repeats. “All I ask is that you leave Link out of it. He is my... _soldier_ , after all.”

She looks at Link again. He continues walking to the stairs behind the throne, the Zora guards parting to let him pass.

“Link,” Sidon whispers, placing a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “Please, you two can’t leave the Domain like this.”

Link stares up at his friend. “I know, Sidon, but it’s pretty clear you’re the only one who wants us to stay.”

The Zora Prince, after a moment, nods, and turns a vicious glare on his father as he lets Link go.

Mipha’s room feels even emptier, now that they’re leaving. It doesn’t take him long to shove their dirty clothes into the bag of “stuff” and straighten out the bed’s blanket, fluffing the pillows as if someone is going to use them later. The throne room below is quiet, and Link takes the small reprieve to stand before the dust-covered desk and pick up the bracelet that was supposed to be Zelda’s birthday present, turning it in his hands.

_No matter when, or how bad the wound, I hope you know that I will always protect you._

“Bye, Mipha,” Link whispers. “I don’t know when we’ll be back to try this again.”

(Because they _have_ to try this again. Zora’s Domain is too important for Zelda to be on its bad side. Maybe if they loop back around after visiting the other races, Dorephan will have calmed down and Sidon will have convinced him to let him pilot Ruta.)

When he returns downstairs, Zelda has at last stopped glowing, her back turned to the throne as she hugs herself. Sidon is still glaring at his father, who stares at the back of Zelda’s head with a solemn expression. The Zora guards have gone back to their posts at the edge of the room.

Link stands at Zelda’s side, touching his fingertips to the small of her back.

She looks at him, biting her lip, tears on the verge of spilling from her eyes.

“Let’s go,” he softly tells her. “I promise, we’ll come back soon and make this right.”

Together, they walk, leaving the throne room and descending the curved staircase.

(Link pretends not to hear Sidon’s angry words echoing after them.)

_Master,_ The Master Sword hums. _Tonight’s full moon is beautiful, isn’t it?_

**Author's Note:**

> the tags say it all tbh we needed an excuse to get out of zora's domain and I was like "what if mipha's dad was an asshole to zelda but it lowkey made sense and it also helped me do another thing"
> 
> anyways, in light of recent news: July 16th!! fi rights!!


End file.
